ReCreation
by LadySilver
Summary: Perry makes a decision that turns out not to be so hard. AU.


_A/N: A quick one-shot for an AU Bingo game I'm participating in on LJ. Comments are always welcome._

**Re-Creation**

by LadySilver

Agent P's reaction to seeing his nemesis fighting someone else was not what he was expecting. He had flung open the door on Dr. D's lair anticipating a confrontation, and found Doof already in the throes of battle with that panda … and all Perry could feel was relief. Not until that moment did he recognize how empty his relationship with Doof had become, how they had been going through the motions of their animosity toward each other without any real feeling behind it. Somehow, when neither of them were looking, they had fallen out of hatred.

Perry softly closed the door and slipped away, leaving Doof to his new enemy. On the elevator ride down, he paused to examine himself in the mirrors that lined the elevator's walls. Without Doof in his life, what was he? What would his purpose be? He had defined himself for so long in terms of another person that he wasn't sure how to be anyone else. Perry eyed the brown fedora that was perched on his head. He ran a claw tentatively around the brim, then lifted the hat off his head. His gaze immediately softened, his eyes unfocussing and losing their steel. He nodded to himself at what he saw.

When he hadn't been so wrapped up in thwarting Dr. Doofenshmirtz, he had enjoyed being the platypus he saw in the reflection. Unfortunately, he'd never been able to fully explore this side of himself, since he was always being called away to stop one evil scheme or another. He was tired of living a life that required escape routes and false identities, that was always thrusting him into danger, that required him to constantly lie to those who asked nothing of him except his affection.

By the time the elevator reached the bottom floor, Perry had convinced himself of his decision. It had been one a long time coming. Now that he had made it, he couldn't imagine any other.

He headed home, detouring for only one quick stop along the way. He took the first secret entrance to Headquarters: an apparent overnight depository window in an abandoned building that used to be a bank. The bumpy, convoluted trip through the hydraulic tubes confirmed his decision. There was nothing about this life that he would miss.

Former Agent Perry left his fedora on the chair in front of the screen through which Major Monogram issued his orders. He didn't even wait for the screen to come to life; since he wasn't expected at Headquarters, there was no sense in hanging around until someone noticed he was there. He knew Monogram would understand the hat's placement for the resignation it was. Perry left by an alternate set of tubes that brought him right up through the flower pot on the table in the Flynn-Fletcher backyard. With a sigh of relief, he trotted over to the shady spot under the tree and lay down.

It wasn't long before his peaceful reverie was disturbed in the best possible way. Perry's boys came tumbling out the back door, Phineas's mouth was going a mile a minute as he poured his ambitious thoughts into words. He had such grand visions, and not the slightest sense that what he wanted to do should be impossible. It was this very naïveté that made him so successful. For a second, Perry regretted all the opportunities he'd missed to see this genius at work. Then he realized that he'd never have to skip out on another engineering project or flight of fancy again.

"Hey, where's Perry?" Phineas exclaimed, interrupting his own musing about how interesting it would be to take a nature walk along the bottom of the ocean to peer around the backyard.

Ferb, always the observant one, extended a finger to point to where Perry had been dozing underneath the tree, his head resting on his front feet while he basked in his newfound happiness. "He's right there."

"So he is," Phineas replied. He crossed the yard and came to a stop a little way from the platypus. Planting his hands on his hips, he continued speculatively, "I didn't see you there, Perry. You're usually a lot harder to find."

Perry-the-Pet lifted his head and looked first at one of his boys and then the other. When he had both their attentions, he chittered. The noise brought an immediate grin to his people's faces. _Yes_, he thought, dropping his head back on his feet, _This is what he had been missing._

END

_A/N: Fulfills my AU Bingo square #23: Spies/Secret Agents_


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